Stuck in a Lift With You
by Hardy
Summary: A response to a challenge, I think this is some of my finest work.


Stuck in a Lift With You Ash, Misty and Brock had been walking along for quite a while, and had fought many trainers. So, the pokemon needed a good boost, and the weary travellers needed a good rest. Straggling slightly, the three exhausted trainers collapsed in front of the nearest hotel. Misty still hadn't told Ash how she felt about him. 'The best time to tell him,' she thought, as they stumbled through the automatic doors. 'Would be if we were trapped alone somewhere where no-one could hear us. Oh, get real, girl! As if I could have such a great opportunity!' ----------------Later---------------- "So, how long has it been?" A sweating Ash asked his female travelling companion. "About... thirty minutes." She sweated back. The two worried friends looked longingly at the doors of the stationary elevator. They had become trapped between the fourth and fifth floors. They would have used their pokemon to get out, but they were at the pokemon centre nearby. There wasn't a safety phone in the elevator, so they were stuck. Fortunately, they had their backpacks, which contained limited food supplies. They were very wisely, very slowly nibbling at some pieces of bread. The air conditioners had broken down along with the movement, so both Misty and Ash were slumped down against the side of the elevator. Misty slid down the elevator wall until she was lying on her back. She had stopped eating. Misty clutched her head and groaned, as if in agony. Ash helped Misty sit up. "Misty, what's wrong?" Misty had tears running down her face, and splashing on the hard floor of the elevator. "Ash... I'm scared," she squinted up at Ash through streaming eyes. "What if nobody finds us? That food won't last forever, we'll starve to death! Oh, Ash, I don't want to die!" Misty flopped down her head and resumed her vicious sobbing. Ash helped her up, and hugged her softly. "Hey, hey, please, stop crying," Ash comforted her. "Brock should be back from the pokemon centre soon, he'll see we're not in the room and find us." Misty sniffed and settled down. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," Misty lay down. "Ash, maybe we should go to sleep. Maybe when we wake up Brock will have found us." Ash nodded. "Alright. I'll see you soon." Misty went to sleep immediately, her red-from-crying face flopped against Ash's shoulder. Ash gazed down at her beautiful sleeping face, her smooth red hair. He uttered one more thing before he, too, drifted off; "Here's looking at you, kid." Misty looked around. Ash was nowhere to be seen. "Misty, up here!" Misty looked up. Ash had managed to prise off one of the tiles on the ceiling, and was kneeling on top of the elevator. Misty beamed. Ash helped her up onto the roof. Just as they were about to climb up the side of the shaft to the next floor, they saw a few lights higher up. The lights turned into flames, and two members of Team Rocket with jet packs flew down onto the roof of the lift. "Oh no!" Ash shouted. The Rockets wore black uniforms with red 'R's on them, but for some reason, Misty couldn't see what their faces looked like. They were eerily blacked out. "Hand over your superpowered Pikachu, boy!" the Rockets said in unison. "Never!" Ash yelled. "Ash, they look serious!" Misty cried. But Ash seemed suddenly to be very far away, like he couldn't hear her. "Very well..." the Rockets said, reaching into their coats. "Then you'll take this!" The Rockets pulled out pistols, and fired. Time slowed down as the discarded bullet chambers clinked on the elevator roof, and Ash reeled back in agony, falling down the elevator shaft. Misty screamed, and leaned over the edge, trying to see him. Meanwhile, the Rockets looked inside the lift, and came back out again. "The Pikachu is not here." "Then this thing is no use to us." One of the murderers walked around to Misty's side, and kicked her over the edge. Misty screamed all the way down, before she finally blacked out... Misty jolted awake. A nightmare. Nothing more. Misty looked around frantically for Ash. There he was, by her side, as before. She held him in her arms and went back to sleep. 

Ash woke up, yawned, and saw that Misty was sleeping, leaning against him. Where was he? Then, suddenly, he remembered. He covered his face with his hands. "Oh, no, the lift." His stomach growled, which made Misty stir. She whimpered in her sleep. Ash thought that the best thing to do would be to let her sleep, so he picked up Misty's backpack quietly, and set her head down on it, like a pillow. He checked to see that she was still sleeping, then went over to his own bag and took out a biscuit. He examined her twisting and turning in her sleep, while he ate. 'She must not be doing very well.' he thought. 'Maybe I should wake her.' He crawled over to where she was lying, and tapped her gently. "Misty? Misty, are you okay?" Misty simply refused to wake up. Ash didn't know how to wake her up. Then it hit him. But he couldn't do that, could he? She'd kill him! 'Well,' he eventually decided. 'It's worth a try.' Ash leaned in towards Misty, and quickly kissed her on the cheek. She smiled, and opened her eyes slowly. "Thank you, Ash." She said. "What was wrong in there, Misty? You looked like you were having the nightmare of a lifetime!" Ash said, concerned. Misty threw herself at Ash. She started crying. "Oh, Ash, it was horrible!" she cried. "It was just the same nightmare over and over again!" Ash put his arms around Misty tenderly. "First we're about to escape, then these two members of Team Rocket come along." "Jesse and James?" "No, these were much more vicious," she sobbed. "They appear, and then they..." she cried her eyes out, her face pressed against Ash's chest. He patted her back. "Don't go on if you don't want to, Misty. We're going to get through this." She broke away from the embrace and sat against the wall. "I miss Togepi." Misty said. Ash nodded. "I miss Pikachu, too, but Brock should find us soon. We'll see them really soon, trust me." Misty showed her agreement, and then tried to go back to sleep. "As long as I know that you're alright, I'll be fine," she said, and then fell into a deep sleep. Ash was surprised. "Woah. She really does care about me," He watched her for a while. No twisting, no disturbance. Just blissful, peaceful sleep... "Ohhhhhhhh..." Ash moaned. "I'm so hungry!" "Me too." Misty replied. "Are you sure there's no food left?" She asked, hopefully. Ash reached for his backpack. He rummaged through it. "Ah-ha!" He shouted, triumphantly. "One more biscuit! It's not much though. Just enough for one person. Take it." He handed it to Misty. "No," she said. "You have it, I'm not that hungry anyway." Ash pushed it away. "Please," he begged. "Take it. For me." Misty took the last, small morsel of food, and nibbled it quietly. "Ash," she said, softly. "Thank you, I... I don't know what to say." "Then don't. Just eat, you'll need that biscuit." Ash sat against the wall, and looked up at the roof. Misty held the tiny biscuit in front of her. She snapped it in half, and threw half of it to Ash. Ash, looked at it. "No, Misty, that isn't enough, you'll starve!" "Then we'll both get hungry!" Ash looked at Misty and smiled. The two ate their biscuit halves slowly. They were beginning to doubt that they'd ever get out. Ash and Misty had gone white with hunger. They clutched their rumbling stomachs. They lost the energy to sit upright, and they collapsed a few feet away from each other. To their weary eyes the elevator looked huge, and lifting a finger was a difficult thing to do. They experienced mixed emotions, fear, sadness, mixed with the happiness of at last being together. Ash lifted his head to look at Misty. He croaked with his dry throat, "Misty..." She slowly moved her head to face Ash, and replied, "Yes, Ash?" "I just wanted to say..." he coughed violently, and clutched his chest. "That if I'm leaving this earth, I'm glad that I'll be with you when it happens... It's getting dark, Misty... goodbye." "Goodbye... Ash..." The two's heads flopped down against the ground, without a speck of energy in their whole bodies. Misty reflected on how they had first met. Her father had died, and her mother was in hospital for serious alcohol poisoning. Her family rejected her, and she wandered. Wandered around without a purpose. She finally settled on living the hard life. Camping out at nights, and fishing to eat. She was catching her lunch when she got a strangely heavy bite. Not a fish, but a person. At first, she didn't like him. She saw him as a low down, dirty thief, for stealing her bike. At first she followed him just to get her bike back, but when she got to know him, she saw who he really was; a selfless, respectable person, and someone who would risk their life to save their friends. She saw all these qualities in him, and grew, not just to like him, but to love him. However, she was afraid that if she should tell him, he would laugh at her or reject her, like her poor excuse for a family. She saw Ash as a shoulder to lean on, someone to rely on whilst in need. She acted like she hated him because she didn't want him to know that she loved him, fearing being cast away. As Misty's mind became a blur, she thought about her life; not the greatest one in the world, but one that she was happy with now. Ash thought, too. He remembered them first meeting, but seeing her as a whingeing tag along, always complaining about her bike. He too had grown to love her after they had travelled for a while. He admired her ability to handle the most desperate situations, knowing how to deal with problems. He had suspected her love for him in times when his situation seemed fatal; she seemed to fear for his life more than anything or anyone else. One of his most precious moments was when he had seen Misty's happy face after he recovered from his accident in the Pokemon Tower. He tried to call out to Misty. "Misty... can you hear me?" she moved her head to face him, she was completely white. She nodded as a response, finding talking too hard to do. "Take my hand..." Ash dragged his arm around his body until it was close enough for Misty to reach it. "I want you to know that even if we don't make it, I'll be there for you... always..." Tears formed in both of their eyes, and Misty lightly touched Ash's fingers. He clasped her hand with his own. Misty opened her mouth slowly, and whispered what seemed to be her last words... "I love you, Ash..." Ash dragged his body along the cold, hard ground, and their lips met for the first time. They closed their eyes and enjoyed what would be their last moment. After the kiss ended, they gave up all hope, lying down close to each other, blacking out slowly. Only one familiar sound woke Ash up from his deadly slumber... "Toge... toge..." His eyes opened, as he dawned on the realisation of what that noise meant. He found the energy deep down inside himself to pick himself up off the ground, and crawl over to Misty. He leaned her against his folded knee, and called to her. "Misty, I can hear Togepi! We're going to be alright!" But Misty did not move, or make a sound. He stroked his hand gently across her face; she felt as cold as ice. He couldn't feel her breathing. "Misty... please, wake up..." he pressed his desperate face against Misty's limp shoulder, and cried. Cried as someone who had just lost their most dear loved one would. As the warm tears rolled down Misty's arm, her eyes flickered. Ash felt the light touch of eyelashes against his hair, and looked at Misty's face. The colour was gradually returning, and her warm breath touched Ash's face. As her eyes gradually opened, Ash spoke. "Misty... you're okay... it'll be alright, we're going to get out of here." "Ash... I'm alive..." She tried to stand up, but didn't get very far. "Ash, I can't move... help me." Ash happily helped her up, and supported her until she was able to. As the two stared into each other's eyes, until a familiar call broke through the silence. "Pika! Pika!" A distressed Pikachu called to them from the next floor up. "Ash, Misty, are you down there?" The usual third member of their group called. Ash looked up to the ceiling. "Yeah! Get us out, Brock!" Ash turned back to Misty and she threw her arms around him, crying tears of joy, before once more kissing her saviour, best friend, and love. END 


End file.
